LIFE ON 'THE PENN': Japan: Here & There

Osaka Castle

After all the time consuming travel of the previous day, we decided to see something a little closer. Our hotel was in Osaka, and after looking through an Osaka tourist guide we decided to go to Osaka Castle. It was originally built in the 1580s, but the present structure we saw was built in 1931. The inside is a museum chronicling life during the castle's time that I honestly found mostly boring. There were a few interesting historical pieces in there, but they wouldn't allow you to take pictures. The surrounding grounds, including the moat, are fairly large and very park-like. It was really pretty, and of course the cherry blossoms were everywhere!

the outer moat with guard tower (Rokuban Turret)

The picture above shows the original wall with enormous stones that are specially noted on a sign. The tree in front is not a little bush! I believe there are eleven large stones, the smallest weighing an estimated 40 tons and the largest 130 tons. Imagine moving those around back in the 1500s!

This is the Ote-mon Gate with earthen walls. It is the original gate from 1628, with much restoration of course. If you look closely you can see small holes near the top of the earthen walls. As you can guess these were used for defense purposes.

another view of Osaka Castle

After finishing our look-see here we walked to the train station and passed a beautiful little area with several trees in bloom. They were a different variety of cherry blossoms than the ones that are everywhere in Japan. They were gorgeous! I couldn't resist some pictures.

We meandered to the train staion and got onboard for Nara, a small city with a great park packed with historical buildings. Our walk took us past a small 3 storied pagoda, Sanju no to, reconstructed at some point in the 13th century, during the Kamakura period. (That's how they dated it!) We also passed Hokuen-do hall, original in 721 & reconstructed in 1210, along with many more cherry blossoms!

The next stop was the five storied pagoda, Goju no To. It is the second tallest in Japan. (The closest we got to the tallest was a view from the observatory in Kyoto.) Goju-no-to was initially built in 730; this is a reconstruction built in 1426. (Side note: It amazes me when I see things that are so much older than the entire history of my country and I pause to think about how great my country has become on the world stage in such a short amount of time!) The pagoda is part of the Kofukuji Temple complex. The three storied pagoda and hall above are also part of this complex. There is another hall next to the five storied pagoda, Tokon-do, housing some Buddhist statues. We did not pay to go in because it looked like every other Buddhist temple we've seen in Korea. (You could see into the building from outside the fence.) Tokon-do Hall was reconstructed on the original foundations during the 15th century. We visited the small museum/"treasure hall" nearby which displays hundred years old statues of Buddhist significance and artistic significance. (Part of the collection are several 'guardians' of Buddha, and they all have angry, hideous looking faces. Emily kept saying "I don't like it. Don't want to see it!") They did not allow picture taking in the museum, so I had to content myself with purchasing a photo book, but I can't share it with you.

five-stories pagoda

Tokon-do

This is Nan' en-do, originally built in 813 with the present structure dating from 1741. It is also part of the Kofukuji complex.

We continued on to another part of the park, which is the location of Todai-ji, the world's largest wooden building. This reconstuction from 1709 is said to be actually 30% smaller than the original built sometime in the mid 8th century. Along the way, we stopped to see the tame deer that roam freely all over the park. They are believed to be divine messengers in the Shinto religion.